Update on Trans-Pennine Feasability Study

Stalybridge & Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds and High Peak MP Andrew Bingham have this week reassured local residents that a solution to the traffic problems between Mottram and Tintwistle is still very much on their agenda.

The pair spoke just after attending the latest meeting of stakeholders for the Trans-Pennine Feasibility Study in Sheffield. The study was set up last year following personal representations to the Chancellor, and a dedicated team of officials from the Highways Agency and Department for Transport have been working on it ever since.

As part of the Government’s Action for Roads strategy, the study is looking at congestion on the roads along the Trans-Pennine route - including the A57 through Glossop and the A628 through Mottram, Hollingworth and Tintwistle - and also looking at identifying potential solutions.

The work is now in its third and final stage and should report in time for the Chancellor's Autumn Statement later this year.

Speaking after the meeting, Jonathan Reynolds said:

“When I and Andrew Bingham first decided to work together on this in 2010 we were essentially told that we had no chance. The Highways Agency had officially ditched the plans for the Mottram-Tintwistle bypass and, as far as they were concerned, this wasn’t their problem anymore.

“Working together with our local council’s in Tameside and Derbyshire, we have spent the last few years lobbying Ministers and other MP’s to support us and we were delighted when the Government announced they would fund the feasibility study last year.

“What we have now is a clear indication that the Government is taking this problem seriously, and evidence of the disruption that the congestion in our areas causes throughout the Trans-Pennine corridor. We will have to wait and see what the final report proposes but it is clear we have come a long way since 2010.

"Whatever the outcome, solving the traffic problems in Mottram and Hollingworth will continue to be one of my main priorities, and I am determined to find a solution that will improve the quality of life for people in the area.”

Andrew Bingham said:

"On being elected back in 2010, one of the first things in my sights was a bypass for Tintwistle and a spur-road to Glossop. I have spent four years pestering the Chancellor and various Ministers about this issue and highlighting the major traffic problems, so I was pleased to finally see some movement earlier this year in the form of this feasibility study.

"At the latest meeting I was pleased to see the work that has been done on looking at all possible solutions and testing them against various criteria, and that these solutions will now be tested in greater detail.

"Whilst I don't know what the final report will say, I remain hopeful that it will officially confirm what we all know - that there is a major problem here - and I am also hopeful that it will propose real solutions for the Government to look seriously at."